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Playboy Taps Vaickus as New President

Rhett PardonOct 6, 2009 10:00 AM PDT

NEW YORK — Playboy Enterprises on Tuesday named Alex Vaickus as president, a new position that will oversee all of its divisions.

Vaickus, who has worked at Playboy for more than 11 years, will supervise print, television and digital media operations at the Chicago-based company, Playboy said. He will report to CEO Scott Flanders.

Flanders said in a statement that the new position of president now held by Vaickus is part of an effort to get Playboy to grow more efficiently.

Vaickus joined Playboy in 1998 as a vice president of strategic planning. He later became president of Playboy's global licensing business. Vaickus previously was a vice president at ConAgra and Sara Lee Corp.

Vaickus on Tuesday said he plans on trying to reverse Playboy's fortunes, which have been sagging the last few years.

"We believe that we have the resources and ability to expand the Playboy brand's reach and to develop new revenue streams," Vaickus said. "I am excited about the potential and look forward to working more closely with our diverse media businesses."

Playboy also tapped Scott Stephen as executive vice president of Playboy's print and digital group, putting him in charge of Playboy magazine, special editions of the magazine and other titles. Stephen, a former executive at YesMail.com, already oversees Playboy's digital operations.

The company also on Tuesday filed an amendment to its December 2008 annual report, which was released in March.

The amendment said that, in the event the company were to be sold prior to March 31, former CEO Christie Hefner would have been entitled to receive another severance payment of approximately $1.7 million.

“No such change of control conditions occurred and Ms. Hefner did not receive an additional payment,” according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The amendment stated that Hefner also received $25,000 to cover legal expenses incurred in negotiating her resignation.

As previously disclosed, Hefner received a $2 million severance payment and 30,000 shares of common stock when she left the company. With the agreement, Hefner is bound to a 12-month non-competition agreement